[O[r three months in jail. Did he rob or assault somebody? No. His crime was he dug up peat on his own property. Eng happens to be a peat farmer. Digging peat is his livelihood. That’s why his family purchased a peat property; that’s why his family has been investing in the business for the past 50 years. Yet recently the McGuinty Liberal government decreed that their land is a “significant wetlands”. That means it’s suddenly illegal for Eng, or for the dozens of other families in the area, to dig peat. It also means they can’t earn a living.
One of Five Most Outrageous Examples of Government Infringement on Property Rights for 2010
Mr. Eng should fight this, but also sue the government for perpetual payments of the average of the previous three years income – with automatic inflation adjustments. And court costs.
There are no property rights in Canada. No constitutional guarantees at all. Ontario is particularly a way down the path where the state controls the property and “owner” are merely stewards of the land. Not a damn thing property owners can do about it because the power is in the socialist oriented cities.
If he has the strength to fight this, possibly with others in the same problem, he will find a lot of support.
property rights?
feel free to google ’eminent domain’, one of the more noteworthy artifacts from the dubya regime SCOTUS.
typical highly selective right wingisms clearly going to continue in 2011.
betcha ’eminent domain’ affects more than 5 parties.
I think I saw your face on a poster once, Beagle.
Mr Eng might be able to pass himself off as an Indian (FN), then all he would have to do is allege a land claim, become belligerent (particularly to his neighbours), threaten violence, arm himself and do whatever he wants. We’re talking about Ontario right?
When it comes to property rights in Canada, Trudeau’s Charter is actually a large paving stone on the road to serfdom.
Some years back there was a movement by the residents of Toronto to become a Province. Not sure who; what or why this was not allowed to happen. cheers;
feel free to google ’eminent domain’, one of the more noteworthy artifacts from the dubya regime SCOTUS.
If the noteworthy artifct you are referring to is the ‘Kelo’ decision, I find the most noteworthy aspect of it was that all of the Liberal judges lined up on the conficate land side of the decision while the Conservative judges wrote the minority decision in favour of private property rights.
Google it. The funniest part of that would be checking out the archives at Huffington Post and Dailey Kos where the lefty commenters had a WTF moment when they realized that they judges who were for land seizure were their judges.
As to Canada, private property rights are the jurisdiction of Provincial governments according the the 1867 Constitution Act and if your Provincial government is using vague words like “significant” to deny a citizen the use of his own property it’s time to look at changing you regime in power and demanding protection at the provincial level.
I emailed Stephen Harper yesterday to demand that his Conservative Government “enshrine” property rights into the Canadian Constitution in order to assure me that my great grand-children will be secure from state tyranny.
The Supreme Court now interprets the Current Trudeaupean Constitution and creates new laws as it sees fit.
The Supreme Court are now our interventionist lawmakers.
Parliament should write laws, Supreme Courts should adjudicate laws not interpret nor rewrite them.
Individual property rights would contain the Supremes,to adjudicating, in my view.
Are you listening Stephen?
Eminent domain was long before GW and as far as my knowledge goes he was never PM.
Maybe the reason is peat acts as a carbon sink. Ontario seems to be a little wonky on that type of thing. I’d make that a Provincial election issue. The power bills aren’t going down and they haven’t closed any coal plants yet. Throw in subsidizing power for export and you have a scandal and/or gross incompetence.
Similar story here in E. Ontario. Moved some earth and cut down some trees on a corner of our 100 acre property.
M.O.E. came in and said it is a wetland and restore it back to the original condition including replanting the trees.
We had aerial photos from the 1970’s showing this corner of the property was not a wetland. Hired a private company to examine water flow in the area. They said it was never a wetland.
Turns out the municipality had installed a number of culverts over the years on the side road and they had funneled the winter runoff to our property creating a man made “wetland”.
M.O.E. ignored it all and ordered us to restore the property, which we are in the process of doing now. Could not afford to fight them in court and lose and still have to restore the property.
I think it would be fun to “discover” an ancient Native burial site on one of the properties owned by McGuinty or one of his family members. I’m sure if you dig deep enough you will find something.
Then as responsible citizens we could whip up a radical Native group to dispossess McGuinty of his property — after all the Premier wouldn’t dream of being a hypocrite and calling the cops to protect his property rights (remember Caledonia, Dalton?).
Joe Molnar has a passing good idea there. As in passing gas in a windstorm kind of idea. As much as we would all like to see property rights in the constitution instituting them would be nigh on impossible. First PM Harper has a minority government facing a majority socialist opposition. He wouldn’t get the bill out of parliament. Even if he could get it through parliament he would then have to get the provinces to sign on. Again Canada’s two largest provinces have socialist governments. Even those provincial governments who are not socialist few would support the entrenchment of property rights since to do so would diminish their power.
Actually,
Joe Molnar has it right. To throw hands up and say “can’t be done” is excactly the wrong attitude.
While ideals are not achievable in best of circumstances, the goal is good and can be accomplished to a practical degree by perseverance.
After forty-seven years of having to deal with bureaucrats in different capacities I have developed an extreme distaste for many in the middle management brackets. The low level ones are just doing a job, although many of them can be poops. The upper level ones think that we work for them.
Situations such as Eng’s are just more of a continuum of the bureaucracy’s method of operating.
Good luck to him.
Beagle, I know you just pop in to drop a flaming bag of excrement on the doorstep in hopes that someone will come out and stomp on it. But sometimes people come out and yell at the little kids in the jello patch – and the kids feel chagrined for having been caught doing something they know is wrong. This helps them to grow up and become productive & contributing members of society. Here’s hoping that this helps you to grow up. If all it does is make you feel silly, that is part of growing up too.
In Canada, the law of property rights as it existed prior to 1867 exists now, except to the extent it has been modified by the BNA Act or any valid subsequent legislation. The Provinces have jurisdiction over property and civil rights, and there may be opportunties for constitutional challenges if they have been improperly delegating law making powers to administrative tribunals.
And most importantly, dubya didn’t have any legislative, administrative or judicial powers in Canada.
Joe @ 12:25 is right that Joe Molnar has a good idea. but I think that hot place will freeze over first before Canadians get property right. Too many socialists around that think everything belongs to them.
Yeah, well, I decree (ok, suggest) that the McGuinty Liberal government is a ‘significant collective anal orifice‘. So there!
Unfortunately, that doesn’t help Mr. Eng….but I feel better.
In the liberal worldview, all things we call rights are actually conditional, temporary licenses, granted by state to the individual, and they will be altered, or revoked when the state, in its sovereign right, considers such rights not in the ” public interest “.
In this case, this man was offending not only wetlands, he was also ngaged in an ” unsustainable ” activity in the natural environment.
Doggie….you really should see a shrink about your BDS.
And there are NO private property rights in Canada.Those of you who keep quoting the BNA Act are wrong.Turdeau’s Chater of Rights(what a joke),killed any rights,like the good little commie he was.Ontario is screwed,and has been,by the latte lefties in Toronto.To Eng I say fight them,and I don’t mean in court.That is all good socialists understand.
It is time to take back our individual and property rights, whether by altering legislation or by revolution.
Revolution.
Alberta’s new property laws leave your rights in the hands of the provincial cabinet woth no legal recourse once they have passed judgement. Possibly the biggest threat to individual property rights in all of Canada.
And there are people who say Constitutionally enshrining property rights is not a high priority….
Property rights are one of the cornerstones of liberty.
I am with Kathy…..revolution is the only answer. I support and watch for the inevitable dissolution of the confederation of Canada. It started in the 60’s and is well on it’s way to being realized as regional politics and economic issues continue to gain ground. Quebec got the ball rolling, federal mismanagement of the fisheries on the east coast have stoked the fire in the maritimes and now the western provinces have started to amalgamate through trade and economic legislation. I think the tipping point will be the rejection of the Canada Health Act as provinces abandon the existing non-solution to pursue more viable, yet currently illegal, options.
Don’t start the Revolution without me but if you are going to start one then better make it quick before the guns are all confiscated, as they did in Britain back in the Nineties. A scythe, pitchfork and torch don’t hold much sway against automatic weapons, and if the greenies get their way we’d be hard pressed to build Molotov cocktails!
Anyone else had enough of unelected bureaucrats telling us how to live our lives, anyone else think snivel servants should sign a code of conduct and when they cross the line we can sue them up the yin=yang? Jesus wept I’m glad I’m boycotting Ontariostan. We need to grow spines and fight those snivel servants in the courts.
Hey folks, me thinks the Harper foot soldiers at Timmy’s across this land are getting an earful over the “break” in Ottawa, about “property rights”.
Do not be surprised if “Steve” will be getting the message that his grassroot ( and chequewriter supporters) want him to ” find his balls”!
Alternate title?
“Dalton McGuinty faces lengthy jail sentence.”
So Joe Molnar assuming that ‘Steve’ “finds his balls” just how do you think he can enshrine property rights into the constitution? Imperial decree? Force of arms? Black magic? White magic? Because Joe Molnar says so? Because his foot soldiers heard about it? Because his grassroot cut him a cheque? And IF ‘Steve’ of “balls” fame were to magically impose property rights by any of the above methods what would prevent any future PM from removing them by the same method?
Except for the fact that my husband and I have to endure a completely whacko landlord, I’m kinda glad we don’t own a home or property seeing as, in Canada, there are no property rights.
This is what my father and grandfathers risked their lives — and lived with unspeakable memories of war in Europe — for?
And most importantly, dubya didn’t have any legislative, administrative or judicial powers in Canada.
Posted by: rroe at December 31, 2010 1:18 PM”
oooooohhh. I see. the 20,000,000 postings about how good it is to follow the right wing only applies if things work out. and applicable to either side of the 49th. thank you for clarifying that mr/ms salmon egg cluster.
So tell me beagle ole dog just what colour is the sky in your world? Then explain what GWB and Canadian property rights have in common. I might be just a bit older than you but I remember the debate over Canadian property rights back when PET was instituting the most flawed constitution in human history. At that time many of those opposed to Canadian property rights pointed out the flaws south of the border. Don’t think GWB was anywhere near the reins of power at that time.
oooooohhh. I see.
Clearly you don’t. “Bush did it” isn’t the trump card you imagine it to be, mainly because unlike you goosestepping lefty imbeciles and your penchant for blindly following cult-of-personality “Great Leaders”, we don’t slavishly kowtow to our self-proclaimed betters just because they occasionaly happen to share our opinion.
Now go light more candles on your Obama shrine, you colossal doofus.
Waterhouse, nicely said.
There are also some who think that the people also belong to the state to do with as they please. The mongrel should walk in the shoes of those who have in countries like that.
Think about what kind of regimes that grant themselves some kind of divine power to control people’s lives, to decide who can do what with property they legally purchased and on which they pay taxes, and it is interesting how such regimes bring back memories of the old Soviet Union and Mao’s China. Were we truly a free democracy the government would be very limited and exist to serve the people. Unfortunately our system has evolved to bigger and bigger government at all levels with the attitude that we exist solely to serve them and of course pay them to run our lives.
All I can say is I’m glad I don’t live in Ontario any more. Will they ever wake up?
pretty obvious Mcswampskum was born bred in a bog.
And will perish there. It can go to hell.
Property rights exist at the point of a gun.
Talk to any indapendant butcher in Ontario micksquinty is waging a full scale war on them with pairs of inspectors showing up without notice twice aweek shutting them down for hours and forcing changes every time they show up my friend 28 years in business no complaints no nothing being harrassed till he will close down vey few left just look around.
Well down the web site of the Ontario Landowners Association, there is a graphic related to Crown Patent Land Grants. These are the land entitlements granted original settlers and are passed on to subsequent owners. These patents confer rights on land owners that government cannot abridge unless an owner somewhere along the line surrendered these rights. Anyone being bullied by the Ontario government or any of its spawn, such as conservation authorities, should investigate whether the original Crown patent still applies. If it does, they can tell the government to take a hike. The OLA website has information about how to determine the Crown patent status of your land.
beagle might be interested (but I really doubt it) to know that subsequent to the liberal/socialist members of the SCOTUS Kelo decision, 42 states (as of 2009) have amended their constitutions and/or statues to prohibit any taking of private land using the justification viewed in the Kelo case.
In that decision, the left-wing justices(ironic title is it not?) showed their true leanings as their decision could be used to justify a taking on ANY basis a government body could invent.
Currently there is no rule of law in Ontario. There is rule by fiat from Queen’s Park. As a practical matter, most people cannot fight the government in court so they must comply or leave.
That said, the issue hasn’t really come to public attention because the government has kept things “small”. The Green Belt legislation for example only screwed several thousand farmers, not enough to register against the 4 million in Toronto. The “wetlands” thing only affects people with rural properties, again a very small number.
I wonder what would happen if enough Ontario farmers decided to “go Galt”? Just stop shipping to Toronto, and widely advertise the reasons?
They wouldn’t even have to stop production, just sell it to Buffalo or Montreal or someplace else, anywhere except Toronto.
Wouldn’t a provincial election be a really, really excellent time for something like that?
What would happen? For a conservative, you have a pretty poor understanding of economics. What would happen is that Toronto would get it’s produce from the suppliers who normally supply Montreal and Buffalo. The total supply isn’t going to magically decrease just because one set of farmers choses to sell to a different market.
You know I believe Winter Solstice Celebrations left Alex cold. He has sure been snarky lately.
Hey Alex if you celebrated Christmas with all of its deeper meanings you would be much happier and more fulfilled. Words to the wise as one who has been there.
Joe, you should have asked Santa for a cure for my Alzheimer’s.
I was going to mention Land Patents as well.
apparently no court has ever denied its power over government thievery.
Once the government grants the patent it can never be taken back.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence the government of Ontario avoids LP promotion.
The major problem in instituting property rights is whose? Caledonia proved a deed is useless so who decides?
Now shooting someone as they break into your house..it’s them.
Apply for and get your LAND PATENT It is your only protection against any Government PEROID !!!
In the days before Turdo we had Property Rights, here in Canada, under the BNA act. Turdo shredded the BNA Act and replaced it with his copy of the Bolshevik Charter (read the Charter of Rights from Lenin 1919 – it will shock you; it is almost word for word in Turdo’s original Charter for Canada!).
Eric Nielson prevented Canadian Citizens from losing all rights to any property at all – like the right to not be forced to billit and feed people who need a place to live, in private homes. Eric took on the Turdo in a magnificent moment in the HOC – a budget Day leak had resulted in many absentee Liberanos in the chamber, instead of attacking the gument (as Turdo expected) Eric proposed and passed an amendment to Turdo’s charter, limiting gument control over private property. I was watching the HOC that day: I cried. Eric Neilson deserves to be on Kate’s “Magnificent Bastard” Honor Roll, IMO.
I think that the next election should be fought on the Right of Canadian Citizens to own Property. Most people do not know that they do not own the property that they pay taxes on; has it never dawned on them that no gument could make rules on private property? The gument could not force a property owner to fix a sink or remove ash trays or install ramps for crippled people; the snowy owl would be forced to move to a Park to ensure survival. Our food (and the production of food) would belong to private citizens.
Joe Molnar is correct – PMSH is on that page too. He is waiting for us to start demanding the Right to own Property so he can get on with shreding Turdo’s filthy people hating charter. Eric will be cheering him on from Heaven.
“Talk to any indapendant butcher in Ontario micksquinty is waging a full scale war on them with pairs of inspectors showing up without notice twice aweek shutting them down for hours and forcing changes every time they show up my friend 28 years in business no complaints no nothing being harrassed till he will close down vey few left just look around.”
The ones who benefit most from shutting down these small butcher shops would be maple leaf foods, who happens to be owned by the Ontario teachers union. The same union that ran ads and helped to elect McGuinty. Funny eh?